Department for Transport

Draft Legislation: The Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2022

Robert Courts: I have today published the draft Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2022 and an accompanying Explanatory Memorandum. This draft instrument amends the Air Navigation Order 2016 (S.I. 2016/765) (“the Air Navigation Order”) to update references to Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 on common rules in the field of civil aviation, which has been repealed and replaced.The Air Navigation Order implements the UK’s obligations under the Convention on International Civil Aviation and regulates aspects of aviation safety. It provides regulatory and enforcement powers for the Civil Aviation Authority needed in respect of retained aviation safety legislation. In a number of places, the Air Navigation Order cites provisions of the “Basic Regulation”, which is defined in Schedule 1 of the Air Navigation Order as Regulation (EC) No 216/2008. However, Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 was repealed and replaced by Regulation (EU) 2018/1139, which has been retained in UK domestic law.Therefore, the Air Navigation Order currently contains outdated references to repealed legislation, which need to be amended. The draft instrument published today will ensure that the Air Navigation Order is able to operate as intended, by accurately citing the correct retained legislation.This instrument is an Order in Council and will follow the negative (annulment) procedure. Paragraph 14 of Schedule 8 to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 requires a draft of this instrument to be published at least 28 days before it is laid. This is because the Air Navigation Order was originally made under powers that included the European Communities Act 1972. The draft instrument and accompanying Explanatory Memorandum can be found on gov.uk.

Active Travel England

Trudy Harrison: I am pleased to inform the House that the Department for Transport is to create a new Executive Agency, Active Travel England, with its headquarters in York. This builds on the Government’s commitment to level up the country and locate more Civil Service roles outside of London and the South East, as well as its commitment to boosting cycling and walking.This Government is investing a record amount in active travel to help deliver our priorities for a healthy, safe and carbon-neutral transport system. Active Travel England will work to ensure that this, and wider transport investment, is well spent, and will help raise the standard of cycling and walking infrastructure.Active Travel England will manage the national active travel budget, awarding funding for projects which meet the new national standards set out in 2020. It will inspect finished schemes and ask for funds to be returned for any which have not been completed as promised, or which have not started or finished by the stipulated times.ATE will also begin to inspect, and publish reports on, highway authorities for their performance on active travel and identify particularly dangerous failings in their highways for cyclists and pedestrians.In these regards, the commissioner and inspectorate will perform a similar role to Ofsted from the 1990s onwards in raising standards and challenging failure.As well as approving and inspecting schemes, ATE will help local authorities, training staff and spreading good practice in design, implementation and public engagement. It will be a statutory consultee on major planning applications to ensure that the largest new developments properly cater for pedestrians and cyclists.ATE's establishment follows the Government's unprecedented commitment of £2bn for cycling and walking over this parliament and comes in the wake of our ambitious "Gear Change" strategy to transform active travel.The agency will become fully operational later in 2022.I am also pleased to confirm the appointment of Chris Boardman MBE as the first Active Travel Commissioner for England. He will take the helm on an interim basis to spearhead the establishment of Active Travel England.This underlines this Government’s ongoing commitment to boosting cycling and walking and to building back greener from the pandemic.

High Speed Rail (Crewe-Manchester) Bill and associated documents

Andrew Stephenson: Today the Government will introduce the High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) Bill - a key part of Building Back Better after the Covid-19 pandemic. Alongside the High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) Bill and accompanying Environmental Statement, the Government is also publishing:the Government’s response to the second Design Refinement Consultation; andan update on the Strategic Outline Business Case.The Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands (IRP) set out the Government’s commitment to invest in rail infrastructure across the North and Midlands. Delivering the Western Leg of HS2 is a vital part of this commitment. This includes plans for the Crewe Hub and Crewe Northern Connection, allowing HS2 trains to call at Crewe and Manchester and enhancing connectivity to north-west England, Wales, and Scotland.This next stage of HS2 from Crewe to Manchester will increase passenger capacity, improve connectivity, and reduce journey times. It is integral to delivering on the Government’s commitment to level-up the country. HS2 will join up the North, Midlands, and London by effectively halving the journey times between the centres of the UK’s three largest cities. The scheme will contribute towards sustainable growth in towns, cities, and regions across the country, spreading prosperity and opportunity more widely. It will act as a catalyst for job creation, the development of new homes and ultimately, the regeneration of major cities and towns along the HS2 route.HS2 will help provide a cleaner and greener form of transport, offering significantly lower carbon emissions per passenger kilometre than long distance car journeys or domestic air travel. HS2 has the potential to deliver world-class low-carbon transport to bring our biggest cities closer together, spread opportunity and support the UK’s transition to a ‘net zero’ economy.The Bill includes the powers necessary to construct and operate the HS2 route between Crewe and Manchester. It is accompanied by an Environmental Statement which describes the railway, alternatives considered, the environmental effects that are likely to arise from its construction and operation, and the measures proposed to avoid or reduce the negative effects. It has been informed by the consultation on the working draft Environmental Statement held in Autumn 2018 as well as through engagement with stakeholders. An Equalities Impact Assessment is also being published.The Government’s response to the Western Leg Design Refinement Consultation is an important part of introducing this Bill. The October 2020 consultation set out four technical refinements to the Western Leg of Phase 2b: a new Crewe Northern Connection to support the vision for a Crewe Hub; changes to the rolling stock depot at Crewe; expansions to both Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport High Speed stations; and a new train depot at Annandale in Dumfries and Galloway. Having considered the feedback from all the respondents, the Government has decided to confirm these four changes.The update on the Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) sets out the clear, strategic case for the HS2 Crewe-Manchester scheme, together with up-to-date cost range for the programme of between £15bn and £22bn (2019 prices). This SOBC contains the first cost estimate that has been produced specifically for the scheme between Crewe and Manchester. As the project progresses in design maturity, the cost estimate will be further refined and will inform the Full Business Case, which will be presented to Parliament in due course.Copies of the Government’s response to the second Design Refinement Consultation will be placed in the libraries of both Houses and are also publicly accessible online through the gov.uk website.

Home Office

Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules

Kevin Foster: My Rt Hon friend the Home Secretary is today laying before the House a Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules. The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) is undertaking a review into the impact of the ending of free movement on the social care sector. Whilst the MAC are not publishing their full report until the end of April 2022, they felt they had sufficient evidence with which to make a recommendation in their Annual Report to add care workers to the Health and Care visa and the Shortage Occupation List. Their recommendation was made in the context of increased demand for adult social services, increasing vacancies and issues with staff retention. They have re-asserted their position of the underlying cause of recruitment and retention problems being mainly due to pay, terms and conditions, and lack of progression in the sector. This is now coupled with pay in other competing sectors (such as catering, retail and cleaning) catching up to the adult social care sector, due to the rise in the National Living Wage. In light of the clear evidence which the MAC have presented and the important role the sector is playing in face of the exceptional situation during the pandemic, the Government announced on 24th December we were agreeing to their recommendation. As recommended by the Migration Advisory Committee, the salary threshold will be in line with the rest of the Shortage Occupation List – with a reduced minimum salary threshold of £20,480 in place (compared with a general threshold of £25,600 for non-shortage occupations) and applicants will need to meet all of the other requirements, such as having a job offer from an approved Home Office sponsor and meeting English language requirements. Taken together with the wider package of support measures for the adult social care workforce announced since September – including the £462.5m to help local authorities and care providers retain and recruit staff over winter, on top of the £500m for workforce training, qualifications and well-being announced as part of the Health and Social Care Levy, they will help us ensure sustainability and success for our long-term vision for this sector. As the MAC does not believe immigration can solve all, or even most, of the problems associated with social care recruitment, but can help to alleviate difficulties in the short term, we are therefore creating an initial 12-month application window whereby workers can apply for visas in this occupation. During this time, successful applicants will have all the same rights, benefits and obligations as other Health & Care visa holders – including the right to bring dependents and to settle permanently in the UK. This decision will be reviewed by Government later this year to determine the success of this change in relation to wider changes in the sector to attract and retain staff, the position with regard to the impact of the pandemic and whether it remains appropriate for this occupation to remain on the Shortage Occupation List. This does not signal a departure from the RQF 3 threshold and the Points-Based System more broadly, which the MAC agrees strike the right balance between access to international talent and resident labour. Employers must continue to invest in training, opportunities and wages for the resident workforce to ensure the UK’s hard-working care workers get the type of rewarding packages they deserve and which are common in other sectors.

Department for Work and Pensions

Supporting Terminally ill Claimants

Chloe Smith: Today the Department for Work and Pensions is introducing an amendment to the Universal Credit (UC) Regulations 2013 and the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Regulations 2013 to exempt people who are terminally ill from the requirement to accept a claimant commitment to be eligible for benefits.A claimant commitment sets out what an individual agrees to do in return for benefit, including any work search requirements and a duty to report any changes in their circumstances. Anyone claiming benefits under the Special Rules for Terminal Illness would already be exempt from work search requirements. However, there is currently no blanket exemption for terminally ill claimants from the requirement to accept a claimant commitment more generally. This means that the requirement to accept a claimant commitment can only be waived on a case by case basis.To streamline the process and provide certainty to those approaching the end of their lives, the Statutory Instrument laid on the 24 January will therefore create a specific exemption from claimant commitments for terminally ill people.The Regulations will apply in Great Britain and will come into force on 15 February 2022. The Northern Ireland Assembly intend to mirror the regulations and are in the process of putting this into place.We are committed to ensuring the benefit system supports people nearing the end of their lives. Further to the changes we are making today, we will be bringing forward regulations shortly to replace the current 6-month rule for determining eligibility for the Special Rules for Terminal Illness with a 12-month, end of life approach in Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance with changes to Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance being made when parliamentary time allows.

Department of Health and Social Care

Covid-19 Update

Sajid Javid: As part of our commitment to reducing the cases of hospitalisation and serious illness due to COVID-19, the Government accepted the JCVI’s recommendation on the 29th November that all young people aged 12-15 years old should be offered a second dose of COVID-19 vaccination a minimum of 12 weeks after their first. To ensure that 12-15 year olds were able to demonstrate their COVID Status for international travel prior to the Christmas holidays, on the 13th December the Government launched the NHS COVID Pass letter service for children who are double vaccinated. From 3rd February, the Government will ensure that all children aged 12 and over will also be able to get a digital NHS COVID Pass for international travel to support our efforts to open up travel. The digital NHS COVID Pass will provide a record of COVID-19 vaccinations received and will show evidence of having recovered from COVID-19 up to 180 days following a positive NHS PCR test. The steps that the Government has taken ensures that families are not prohibited from travelling where countries require children over the age of 12 to be able to digitally demonstrate their vaccination status or proof of prior infection. The COVID Pass will be available via the NHS.UK website for those aged 12 and over and via the NHS App for those aged 13 and over. To request an NHS COVID Pass, the child will first need to register for an NHS login, which will require them to verify their identity using their passport. The Government has also sought to ensure that this solution can be used by children in both Wales and the Isle of Man. In Wales, 12-15 year olds will be able to generate a digital pass via NHS.UK. In the Isle of Man, they will be able to use both NHS.UK and the NHS App. Further information will be available shortly from the Department of Health for Citizens in Northern Ireland. Paper youth passes are already available for citizens in Scotland and further information on the digital solution will follow in due course.